Gestational Diabetes and soooo scared!!!!

[mangomilkshake]

this is my second preg, didn't have GD with first but have family history of diabetes so I've just had the GTT test and the results came back a little above the top cut-off (result was 8.7). I have the appointment with the endocrine doc next week and am now going out of my mind thinking about how this is going to affect the rest of the pregnancy and the birth. I was planning to use the natural birthing unit and have a water birth but now that is off the cards completely, but am so scared about what will happen in the hospital during labour - I still want to have as natural a birth as possible (obviously without putting either of our lives at risk) but am well scared about what if they intervene and force feed formula etc (i've heard that can happen). I just want a normal as possible natural birth with only gas and air, skin to skin afterwards and exclusive bf - am now feeling like I am asking too much!

then again not sure if i have possibly jumped the gun and am worrying over nothing, as haven't even seen the doc yet.

any reassurance would be appreciated!!

There might be some helpful advice and reassurance over here on this thread :)

thanks flisspaps :)

Hi mangomilkshake....just wanted to say that I had a positive GTT 3 weeks ago now, and was totally freaked out by it too. However, having been to dietician and diabetes clinic in last fortnight I am now totally reassured. Have been told that there is no policy of inducing GD babies early in my local hospital unless absolutely necessary, and its still also totally possible to use the birth centre and have the natural birth you want. Is just a case of monitoring as you go.... So far I've been lucky enough to control it with diet - to be honest, I haven't needed to make many changes other than cutting out the biscuits, cake and fruit juice. My growth scan this week, also showed a completely average size baby in the 46th percentile, so am feeling fairly relaxed about it now. Please don't worry until you've spoken to the doctor, and remember you can always refuse intervention and formula for your baby post birth. Midwives at our clinic recommend pre-birth colostrum harvesting for women with GD, so if necessary you can give the baby a boost with that rather than formula. There are options...
I was totally prepared to go in all guns blazing to my appointment to make sure I'm still able to have the birth experience I want, but it really wasn't necessary. I hope you find the same...

I had GD, I had a natural 3 hour labour at 39 weeks (so avoided planned induction at 40 weeks). I expressed colostrum before birth (I was part of a study at the hospital) and stored it in milk bags. The plan was that my colostrum could be used rather than formula if I struggled to feed after labour. Also expressing produces oxytocin which can bring on labour (orgasms do to), I think that is what triggered my labour. It is safe to try expressing from 37 weeks and I did it every evening in a warm bath. Ask your midwife about it.

Just to reassure you, it is rare for babies to need additional feeding and you can normally feed yourself as soon after birth, ask your midwife to help you feed before baby is cleaned and weighed etc.

The main thing you need to focus on is minimising your blood sugar so that your baby gains as little extra weight as possible. Follow a low GI diet and be strict with yourself, it's hard work but it really pays off. Dd was 6lb 2oz, far away from being a podgy GD affected baby.i found combining foods helped, so I never had carbohydrate (bread, pasta, fruit etc) without eating fat or protein (cheese, meat, eggs etc). The fat and protein slows the absorption of the glucose in the carbs. Go for high fibre carbs, so brown rice and pasta, sweet potato rather than mashed white potato etc. you should see a dietician but I also found looking at sites about type 2 diabetes helped me work out what I could eat.

Keep a food diary and don't snack between meals so you can work out what your trigger foods are, youll find some things will push your blood sugar much higher than others. For example, I found I could eat Ben and Jerry's ice cream I guess because of the high fat content, but I couldn't eat sugar free muesli even though my dietician recommended it for breakfast.

I had something like scrambled egg on granary toast for breakfast, chicken salad for lunch and meat and veg casserole with a small jacket potato for dinner. Sugar free jelly and high fat ice cream were my favourite desserts.

Don't panic, your result is fairly low. Work hard on your diet and you should have minimal consequences.

absam32 and happycamel - thank you for your reassuring words, i feel like crying! (it must be the blimming hormones!) - I am dead set on trying to regulate the sugar with diet and avoid having a fat baby, I just can't help feeling like a failure...I am going to keep a food diary in prep for my appointment with the cons next week so see how that goes.

thanks again stars.

You aren't a failure. Some people have GD because they are overweight, but pregnancy is moot the time for dieting. Some people get it because of their ethnicity and some people despite being skinny and white (like me) just get it. It's no reflection of your diet during or pre pregnancy and don't let anyone tell you otherwise (and some may try). Don't you dare feel guilty, there are more than enough guilt trips in pregnancy. Focus on what you can change and that's your blood sugar going forward.

Ooh, meant today, watch what you drink, fizzy drinks, milk and fruit juice are all high in sugar. Have herbal tea, red bush and diet drinks instead.

Don't feel like a failure, it's absolutly nothing you did. I like you was only given a GTT because of a family history of it and I ended up on insulin. I did have an early induction (38 weeks) because of my DS's size and my DS always has been FF not force fed by the MW's by he way but because he wouldn't latch on and his sugar levels were dodgy and it was best for him.

He's absolutly fine (he's 4 months now) and lost most of his diabetes chub quite fast and settled at his correct weigh percentile.

I won't give you a blow by blow of my induction and I hope I haven't scared you, I'm just trying to say even if it is medicalised birth it will be fine :) please pm me if you would like to hear more about my induction/what happened with DS after he was born I am happy to share.

As others have said a food diary for the first few weeks is a good idea as food that is fine for some isn't for other (I couldn't believe how high a Chinese rice dish sent my sugar levels!)

aah cheers ladies, yep I know you are right that i shouldn't blame myself but can't help it.....didn't think of milk being high in sugar - i've been drinking loads as had really crappy indigestion pretty much since the start!!

How are you doing mango? How far along are you? I spent today mostly in tears before starting to get my head together this evening by reading, researching, making notes etc. I'm not going to be browbeaten into medicalising my birth more than I feel comfortable with: my ideal scenario was actually as you described in your OP and if I can get my sugar levels under control I'm going to try and push for it as far as possible...

hi latristesse aah I have been on a rollercoaster of emotions too like you have moments when i feel so sad and down about it and other times when i am ready for battle....i'm doing ok, 29 weeks so slowing down quite a bit now...yes that's what I am hoping to do to, just try and normalise things as much as possible - i was hoping that they may test again and find that I am in the normal range and deemed low/normal risk but apparently once they have you on the radar for GD that's it. I have now been just trying to look forwards and do my food diary and prepare myself for the cons next week - I am going to be firm and not let them force/coerce me into doing something that I don't want to but lets see how it all transpires

I'm happy to talk to you both about natural labour and the risks and benefits to you and baby. You can PM me specific questions and I will also try to keep an eye on this thread.

Basically your blood sugar record will be regularly reviewed, if you are keeping your blood sugar percentages in single figures then you should avoid insulin but they may also test for leukocytes. if you aren't then it is safer to be on insulin. I was determined to diet control and by the end my diet was quite extreme and I put on 4 stone from my pre pregnancy weight because of the amount of fat and protein I was eating, I've lost it all breast feeding though.

I expressed colostrum after 37 weeks and froze it in milk bags. The idea was to feed this to dd if she had low blood sugar after birth. Expressing colostrum also produces oxytocin which can bring on labour, that and plenty of sex (which also delivers cervix ripening hormons and orgasms produce oxytocin) brought on labour at 39 weeks so I avoided induction at term. Dd was only 6lb 2oz, which reflects how well diet control can work.

The biggest risk with GD is that the placenta fails earlier so there is a greater risk of stillbirth. Please monitor your baby's movements carefully and get monitored if in doubt, baby should also have their HB monitored in labour.

If baby looks fine post birth then they should just help you feed straight away, before cleaning and weighing baby. This is because baby will have lots of insulin to deal with your blood sugar, so when that supply is cut off they can hypo. They may give additional formula feed or defrosted colostrum if you have supplied it, or ask for help to keep feeding.

Good luck girls

Hi again... I went for a growth scan today and was told all measurements are within the normal range, fluid fine, placenta fine, baby weighing 6.02 but she said there was a 25% margin of error at this stage.

All told I feel much brighter and stronger today, and armed with some good info for fighting forthcoming battles with consultants! I've also contacted the infant feeding midwife about who runs colostrum harvesting sessions, so hopefully she'll be running one in the next couple of weeks so I can get started.

I've started my food diary, as I have an appt with the diabetes midwife on Monday morning. Tbh my diet is pretty good anyway, although my portion control is appalling! , but hopefully there'll be some changes I can make to keep my sugars in check...

How About you mango? when is your appt? Chin up girl; knowledge is power!

hey all haven't been on here for a few days...got my appt on thursday so see how that goes, am def going to look into the colostrum harvesting as I certainly do not want them to give formula.

happycamel were you able to have skin to skin straight after the birth too? that is another aspect worrying me as I want the baby straight away..I am assuming that as long as my blood sugar is regulated and in control then the baby won't be affected that much when it comes out and we will be able to have skin to skin and bf straight away (fingers...everything crossed)

yep you guys are right, knowledge certainly is power, but i am finding at times that reading and finding out too much is making me a bit paranoid,...scared now about the placenta failure that happy mentioned, did you mean that the placenta fails during preg or the labour??

I had borderline GD as well that was controlled by diet. I was induced 5 days over my due date and had a normal vaginal birth with dd delivered onto me as requested in my birth plan. We were in for 5 days but that was unrelated to blood sugars (She was jaundiced and needed phototherapy). I breastfed in hospital and she wasnt given any formula.

That's exactly the sort of story I want to hear Seona!

Had my appt with diabetic midwife today who was totally lovely. I've not got a finger pricker and am testing sugars 3 x daily. So far so good... I've cut out fruit and fruit juices and have reduced my portion sizes.

I asked about skin to skin Mango and she told me that at our hospital their policy if birth has been straightforward is to encourage skin to skin for 3 hours with bfeeding before baby is checked or weighed or anything. I was very encouraged! Got my colostrum harvesting kit too so will start that tonight.

I too was borderline GD.

After being discharged by clinic and being told by consultant prob not GD I fought for my MLU birth in pool.

I understood the risks of shoulder dystocia and blood sugars.

I meant to express but never did.

Baby fine and I was fine.

Btw my borderline was 7.9

aah things are starting to sound more positive, so thank you ladies! seona that's pretty much what I am hoping for birth and labour wise...

I'm going to check what my hospital policy is too regarding skin to skin hopefully they will be the same as yours LaTristesse

Lagoon that's great that you managed to get discharged from the GD unit, I am kind of aiming/hoping that I can get discharged too, if I manage to keep my numbers down but lets just see what happens.

Anyway, thanks ladies I feel much more positive this morning about everything :)

Hi all

Can I high jack some of this thread?? I was told I had GD fairly late as MW hadnt told me to do the GTT thing. Im now 35+5 and been for another check up at diabetes clinic. As they weren't happy with some of my "markers" in urine they've put me on insulin (tried metformin for last few wks). I was terribly disappointed as wanted to avoid going onto insulin but tbh by this stage I just want a healthy happy baby and will do whatever it takes to get her here.
I'm a bit concerned as I've got an induction date now (39+2) and the leaflets they've given me make it sound horrible!! I'm just so confused by what to eat still- I've ended up eating multiseed bagels with peanut butter and reduced sugar jam pretty Much every day with a wrap for lunch an protein heavy dinner but apparently I've still got ketones in my urine (hence the insulin) does anyone have any positive induction stories and/or ideas of what to eat? My MW keeps telling me I need to eat more but given my not so successful attempts to control with diet alone I'm obviously not doing anything right!
Sorry for long rant- am just over emotional and tired with all conflicting information!!

Thanks

Hi Rups, I know how you feel, it completely throws you doesn't it...I had the GTT test at 28 weeks and was borderline-ish but still am seeing the consultant and have been testing with the home blood monitoring sticks and managing sugars with my diet alone - regarding food I have been pretty militant with changing my diet by cutting out stuff like white bread, squashes, chocolate/sweets/cakes/biscuits - good things to have are stuff like oats for breakfast or granary toast, lunch could be salad with chicken or turkey in it and maybe a veggie burger (tesco do some good meat free ones) and then say grilled chicken with veggies, potatoes and salad for dinner, and snacks could be stuff like cottage cheese on rice cakes or some almonds/mixed nuts for example - you have to make sure that you don't starve yourself though as apparently not eating enough can also increase the ketones in your wee as basically your body starts eating the fat stores in your body for energy rather than the food you're eating...it's suggested that a low GI diet is followed as far as possible as this should regulate your blood sugar and stop the peaks and dips that occur with high GI foods, ooh and also I've been going for 20-30 minute walks after every meal, and all this seems to be working for me.

regarding the induction, sorry, I don't have any advice on that though I am sure I read on here somewhere about your rights concerning inductions - I will have a search and post the link in a minute.

Hope this helps, feel free to ask anything else and above all keep your chin up!

Rups the second post from the start of this thread has a link to a thread about the induction side of things, hopefully that helps